When we travel, we just wanna have fun and get lost in the adventure.
We picture ourselves standing beneath the Eiffel Tower, looking up at the lights of Paris. We imagine walking past Buckingham Palace, perhaps hoping to catch a glimpse of the King. We save the places we want to see, take leave from work, put money aside, book the flights & hotels and count down the days.
Eventually, the day arrives. We are there!
But somewhere between taking that first photograph and checking the next place on our itinerary, a small question can cross our minds. Why did I even want to travel here in the first place? Perhaps it is simply to have fun? And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But sometimes, there is something more.
What if the Taj Mahal actually means to us something more than a place of attraction?
Perhaps it reminds us of someone we once loved, as how the Taj Mahal was commissioned by Shah Jahan in memory of Mumtaz Mahal. Perhaps it brings back memories of a neighbourhood we grew up in. Perhaps we left India many years ago and, standing there again, suddenly feel a little closer to home. The Taj Mahal has not changed, but our reason of being there has. For those planning a visit, a Taj Mahal and Agra sightseeing tour from Delhi could be a convenient way to experience these remarkable landmarks.
Just because a place is famous and beautiful, does that automatically mean we have to travel there? I’d argue that even travelling through the remotest places on the planet can give us a greater sense of what travel truly means. No amount of money or status can replace the sense of purpose that comes from knowing why we chose to be there.
That is where travel begins to feel different.
Travel doesn’t need a grand purpose. Sometimes the purpose is simply to experience something we’ve always dreamed of. Sometimes it is to reconnect with our past. Sometimes it is to understand another culture, meet people whose lives are different or simply see the world beyond the familiar streets we know.
And sometimes, the people beside us become part of that purpose too.
The right travel companions can turn an ordinary journey into a memory we carry for years. The wrong ones can make even the most beautiful destinations feel exhausting. After all, we don’t experience a place in isolation. We experience it through the conversations, laughter, frustrations and unexpected moments we share along the way. So perhaps travelling with purpose isn’t about having a grand reason for every journey after all.
It is simply about being present enough to understand why the journey matters to us.
I began to understand this through my own first international journey to Da Nang, Vietnam.
I shared that experience in my second TravelsForged article, published in Malay: https://travelsforged.com/pengalaman-melancong-da-nang/. Da Nang had plenty to offer. Its impressive dragon architecture, delicious Banh Mi and an affordable currency. For those planning their own visit, a Da Nang street food walking tour could be one way to experience the city beyond its famous sights
But none of these were the real reasons that travelled me there. As someone who had yet to travel internationally, I saw an opportunity when I finally had enough financial means from my job to make that first journey happen. Many of my university friends had travelled to Vietnam and Indonesia during our years, but I never had the opportunity to join them because of my financial constraints and lack of travel motivation.
So, Da Nang became more than just another destination on a map. It became the fulfillment of my very first purpose for travelling internationally. I not only enjoyed the journey to the fullest, but also learned things I could never fully understand from a classroom alone: airport & luggage procedures, differences in culture & language, and finding a way through unfamiliar places. In the end, my first international journey gave me far more than a holiday.
It forged 🔥 me a reason to travel.
My dear mother experienced something similar 3 decades ago when work took her to San Francisco.
She wasn’t going there to find herself, discover a new culture or tick a destination off a bucket list. She simply had a job to do. At the time, she was still new to her profession and didn’t quite know what to expect from her first experience in the United States (also internationally). Yet that work trip exposed her eyes to a much bigger world.
Many years later, she would tell us about the little things she noticed.
The fruits that tasted different, experiencing snow for the first time (seasonal experience we couldn’t observe in Malaysia), even the way the late 20th century folks in California spoke English sounding different to her. None of these things were probably written into her work itinerary. But they stayed with her. Those small discoveries became memories. And those memories eventually became part of our family’s reason to visit San Francisco one day. For those planning their own visit, a San Francisco city tour can be one way to experience the city.
Those are what makes travel fascinating. A destination doesn’t have to be the greatest city in the world. It doesn’t have to be the most beautiful country or the most famous landmark or the most popular place on social media. Doesn’t even have to be the richest destination on planet Earth.
It only has to mean something to you.
We often travel for the sights, the food, the adventure. But sometimes, we travel to remember, to discover, to reconnect, or simply to understand something about ourselves. And perhaps, when we finally understand why we travelled, we begin to understand what the journey was really about.
Perhaps that’s what it means to travel on purpose.